What Is NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing?

Learn how to share your desktop applications and carry on a live chat or training session by using Microsoft’s NetMeeting. NetMeeting has been around for more than a decade, and became very popular when it was first distributed free of charge with Internet Explorer 3. It was replaced with several other Microsoft products, most notably Remote Assistance, Windows Live Messenger and Microsoft Office Live Meeting. NetMeeting fails to load and operate correctly on Microsoft’s newest operating system, Windows 7.

Original purpose of Microsoft NetMeeting

NetMeeting was originally designed to allow an originator to share his desktop in a voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) connection in order to present a video conference or conduct an Internet chat. It allows collaboration with other participants and makes it very easy to show participants — even if they are thousands of miles away — what is on the presenter’s computer.

What can someone do using NetMeeting?

With NetMeeting desktop sharing software, one can conduct virtual conferences, saving travel expenses and travel time. When the presenter shares his desktop, the participants only need to know the IP address of the presenter. The host can share his own desktop, and can also allow participants to share theirs for a truly interactive experience. If both ends of the connection have audio and video capabilities, such as the cameras and microphones available on most newer computers, the experience is even more like standing right in front of the participants at a presentation. NetMeeting can even record sessions to send to other viewers.

NetMeeting is a bit long in the tooth, technologically speaking, but its effectiveness as a virtual meeting tool warrants consideration if you are still using Windows XP or previous versions of the Windows operating system.